Kill Team
by PMOHWinters
Summary: The most feared arm of the Combine armed forces, the Combine Kill Teams ruthlessly wipe everything out of their path for the good of the Combine. That is, until Kill Team 17 is contacted by somebody who is NOT their mission controller...
1. World Events

Chapter 1: World Events

In the latter half of the 20th century, the world was rife with conspiracies and secrets. UFOs were all the rage, and people could not stop talking about supposed sightings, military cover-ups, and the infamous Area 51. What they didn't know, however, was that Area 51 was nothing more than a farce. After all, there is little point in conducting secret research in a base that is no longer secret. 

Before pictures of Area 51 taken by Russian spy satellites even hit the public, the US Government was already moving all of its equipment, personnel, and projects to a new facility, called Black Mesa. It was there that the military conducted its secret projects, as well as its experimentation with alien specimens and technology, and the strange alien crystal that started the infamous Resonance Cascade.

The events that happen over the next several hours are still clouded in mystery and cover-up. What is known, however, is that the Black Mesa Facility was compromised and infested with alien lifeforms. The United States Marine Corps was sent in to try and clear the facility of all aliens and facility personnel, but quite a number of the senior staff managed to escape the noose they set, and the Marines were only able to contain the threat within the facility walls.

However, it wasn't long until things began to spin out of control. The portal opened by Resonance Cascade began to expand, and more portals began to open in various areas around the world. The secret was out, and soon the entire world found itself swamped under the onslaught of xenofauna. With these recent events coming to light, the US Government had no choice but to admit what it had been doing in New Mexico, and warned the rest of the world of the impending danger these portals represented. Unfortunately, this was only the first wave.

Over the next two years, most of the world fought back against the aliens that came through the portals, and for a time, it appeared that the humans were winning. However, some nations didn't follow the rest of the world. Many ambitious people began to study and exploit the portals, and one of these people was none other than Dr. Wallace Breen, former administrator of Black Mesa. Through one of these portals, he made contact with an alien force known as the Combine.

The Combine were a ruthless but pathetic race, made up of ugly beings totally dependent on technology to survive. Exhausting all of the resources on their native planet centuries ago, the Combine began migrating to other planets, enslaving its people, and stealing their resources. The Combine were interested in Earth ever since Gordon Freeman killed Nihilanth, their puppet leader on Xen. The Combine had already made preparations to stage an invasion of Earth, but were missing one critical piece of the puzzle, a puppet leader to rule the humans.

Dr. Wallace Breen fit the bill perfectly.

Days later, the Combine hit every major city on Earth simultaneously in what later became known as the Seven Hour War. It took just seven hours for the Combine to annihilate all of the Earth's armed forces, and for Breen to negotiate a surrender on behalf of Earth. For the next 15 years, the Combine ruled Earth with an iron fist.

Unfortunately for the Combine, in their third year of rule, the xenofauna that plagued Earth in the past began to pose the same problems for them. Even though they used some xenofauna (headcrabs) as weapons, they had to clean up the result anyways. There were also many resistance groups out there that still fought a guerilla war against the Combine, in hopes of liberating Earth from their iron grip. In response to these growing problems, the Combine decided to implement Kill Teams, specially trained units designed to combat the growing threat of both xenofauna and the resistance forces. They started screening human children for possible candidates. When a suitable candidate was found, the Combine took them and performed genetic enhancements to make them stronger, faster, and smarter than normal human beings.

Over the next 12 years, the Kill Teams proved ruthlessly efficient at the tasks they were given, with a flawless 100 percent success rate.

Recently, Combine has heard hushed whispers among the slaves, rumors of the prophesized return of Gordon Freeman, whose status is the equivalent of the Messiah. The Combine is prepared for him, however, and their Kill Teams stand vigilant in the event that the Freeman ever returns…


	2. Pest Control

To Synergy's Duality: Well, the places I've gone to don't quite go into so much depth, so some parts were open to a bit of interpretation. Besides, its fanfiction, and I like to put a little twist on things ;). By the way, if you can tell me where you got that sort of info, I'll be sure to make a few revisions.

Also, on the fact of cleanup, in terms of headcrabs and other aliens, I've seen plenty of Combine guys in the game fighting against the little buggers, but never have I seen a Vortigaunt actively kill a headcrab for the Combine.

Chapter 2: Pest Control

**Location: City 17 Residential Block 4  
****Status: Secure**

It was a quiet day on the outskirts of City 17. People going to and from work, Civil Protection officers milling around and harassing random pedestrians, and surveillance drones hovering around. All in all, it was a normal day in City 17. That is, until missile trails were seen in the distant sky.

Civilians took a second-long glance at the trails of smoke, shook their heads in pity for the poor bastards on the other end of the missiles, and went on to their normal duties. The Civil Protection officers didn't even bother to turn their heads.

**Location: City 17 Sewage Treatment Plant 9  
Status: Infested**

"Six, you are clear to fire."

A sharp _crack _filled the sky, and another zombie hit the ground with a loud, meaty _smack_. Six, perched atop an old pumping tower, reloaded her rifle and resumed firing. Unsurprisingly, more zombies began shambling forward, as if they were all lining up to be shot first. All they had to do was drop a few pounds of rotting beef on the concrete, and the headcrabs would start crawling out, like flies to a feast.

_God these things are dumb_. One thought as her other five squadmates opened up on the crowd of zombies. All of these things were once human, Resistance sympathizers actually, but now they were just pests that needed to be cleaned up, but nothing frustrated One more than pest control. All the years she and her team spent training for anti-terrorist operations was going to waste in the wake of the Combine's "crabbombs", missiles that housed warheads full of headcrabs rather than explosives. Unfortunately, the little bastards had the habit of multiplying like rabbits when they found hosts, and Kill Team 17 was always expected to clean the mess up. _If only they would stop using the damn things!_

Meanwhile, Two and Three were deploying manhacks and sentry guns to keep any zombies from flanking them and attacking from behind. The manhacks immediately began zig zagging through the air and started to shear zombies apart. The sentry guns immediately began firing on everything that came within their line of sight.

"Ghouls! Two o' clock!" Five yelled through the radio.

One turned to her left and caught three gray blurs dashing across the roof of a nearby equipment shed. "Ghoul" was the term coined for the second variation of zombie, which were more skeletal, quick, and aggressive than normal ones. These ghouls managed to leap over the line of sentry guns Two and Three deployed, and started knocking the weapons over. The sentry guns flailed and fired wildly in the air as the ghouls dashed past them, making their way towards Six's position.

One raised her pulse rifle and fired at the ghouls. Good as Six was with her rifle, she couldn't possibly kill all three ghouls before they reached point-blank range, and as fast as the ghouls were, none of them could outrun a pulse round. The ghouls twitched as they were torn apart by pulse rounds and fell to the floor, dead… again.

"Two, Three, reset those sentries. Four, Five, with me. We're going to clear this plant." One said calmly through the radio.

"What about the zombies up here?" Five asked.

"Air support will take care of that." The moment she said that, a Combine helicopter passed by over their heads, pulse gun blazing. About a dozen zombies were mowed down in just one pass, and the helicopter held its position overhead, firing at everything that moved. Four and Five quickly dashed over the entrance to the water treatment plant. Four kicked the double steel doors open as Five lobbed a pair of fragmentation grenades inside. For a brief moment, One caught several fuzzy, human-shaped silhouettes as the grenades exploded.

"Four, Five, go!" One yelled.

Pulse rifles ready, both squadmates dashed inside like black lightning. There were intermittent flashes of gunfire and shrieks of zombies as they were gunned down. One kept watch over the door as Four and Five backed out of the door.

"Status."

Four looked up, her mask blocking any sign of emotion, "Area clear. All lifeforms present and accounted for."

One keyed her radio to the gunship's frequency and said, "Gunship, do a sweep."

"Sweeping," replied the gunship, "reading six human-sized lifeforms."

"Confirm six lifeforms, Gunship."

"Confirmed. Six lifeforms read and accounted for."

One nodded. Four and Five did a good job of clearing out those damned headcrabs. One was about to key her radio to call in for a dropship, when another, unfamiliar voice interrupted her on the radio.

"Not a bad show," the voice on the radio cackled, "pity that such skill and efficiency is wasted on such a…" the voice paused as if the find the right word, "mundane task…"

"Who is this?" One demanded, but all she heard was static. She keyed back to the gunship's frequency and asked, "Gunship, did you record any unauthorized transmissions during the last thirty seconds?"

"That's a negative," the gunship pilot replied, "channels are all clear. No signs of any anomalies."

Two turned her head and asked, "One, something wrong?"

One shook her head. "No, nothing. Nothing at all."

**Location: City 17 Train Station 2**  
**Status: Secure**

The last train of the day rolled to a stop in the station. This train was bringing back workers who were sourced out to City 14 for expansion work its Citadel, though there weren't very many people in. There were at most, ten or twelve people on board. As they began to get off the train, one man seemed to stand out from the others. He stood a little a taller, showed a bit more energy in his movements, and a determination in his eyes that everybody else around him lost years ago.

He glanced briefly around the area, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. It was ironic that he spent the last decade or so in another dimension, only to return to Earth and feel even farther away from home than before.

Realizing that he was beginning to attract attention from the guards, the man straightened out his glasses and followed the other passengers to the security checkpoint. He did not know why he was here, or what he was going to do, but Gordon Freeman was in this twisted future for a reason, and he was determined to find out.


	3. Guess Who's Back

AU: Well, for those of you that feel uncomfortable with Combine soldiers killing headcrabs instead of Vortigaunts, don't worry, you won't see that much headcrab killing anymore. Oh yeah, and don't get used to these constant updates. It's just Spring Break for me, and I've got a lot of free time right now.

Chapter 3: Guess Who's Back

**Location: City 17 Citadel**

Major K-257 marched quickly up the Administrator's office. He was already on his way to give the Administrator his regular report when he received an urgent, Omega-level summon from the Adminstrator. K-257 frowned at the thought. In all the time he was here in City 17, he could not recall ever receiving such a high-level summon. _Could it be Freeman was actually here?_ K-257 shook his head at the thought. Freeman was only a myth, an urban legend.

As he came up to the Administrator's office, K-257 didn't stop to try and identify himself in front of the guards. He knew that the Identify-Friend-Foe tag implanted in his brain would automatically display all relevant information to the guards' heads-up displays. Both guards took a second or two to determine whether he had enough clearance, saw his rank, and quickly saluted. K-257 returned the salute and walked into the Administrator's office.

K-257 was surprised at what he saw within. In addition to the sight of the Administrator sitting behind his desk, the Major also saw a group of officers standing at attention in front of him. K-257 quickly moved next to the nearest officer in line and stood at attention. The Administrator took a quick look at the officers standing before him and then stood up and began pacing the floor behind his desk.

"Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to discuss a _major_ breach in our security, and to determine what to do about it." Administrator Breen stopped and glared at the officers in front of him.

K-257 tensed slightly. A security breach and Breen's current mood suggested that somebody was going to die today.

"Five minutes ago," Breen continued, "do any of you know what I saw?"

All of the Combine officers stayed silent. They knew better than to talk without a direct order to them.

"I saw _Gordon Freeman_ standing right there, in front of my desk!" Breen pointed to where K-257 was standing. At the mention of Freeman's name, some of the officers murmered and began to fidget a little.

"Now, I want somebody to explain to me, just _how_ Mr. Freeman is in City 17, and how long he was here!"

One officer, K-157 recognized him as Colonel D-492, stepped forward and said, "Administrator, my sources within Civil Protection hadreceived credible reports several minutes ago that Freeman was sighted at City 17 Station and in one of the adjacent residential blocks before disappearing."

Breen turned his head, to face the Colonel. K-257 noted that Breen was doing a sucessufl job of keeping his temper in check, but didn't know how long it would last.

"The sightings, how long ago?" Breen asked.

"The report of the sightings was roughly an hour old."

"You mean to tell me that Civil Protection _knew_ Freeman was here for one _hour_ and didn't tell anybody?"

D-492 stiffened and replied, "They only found out whenCivil Protectoindid a headcount on the passengersin today's train from City 14. They counted one extra passenger, did a background check, determined his identity, and tried to apprehend him. Civil Protection obviously believed that they had the situation under control."

"Obviously, Civil Protection is full of _idiots!_" Breen failed to hide his rage this time, and he began yelling at the officers, "Organize your units! Attack every known Resistance base, hideout, station, whatever! I don't want Freeman to find any sort of safe haven or assistance whatsoever!"

K-257 and the other officers nodded. Contrary to public belief, the Resistance's "secret" hideouts were not quite as secret as they thought. The Combine had long been keeping their hideouts under surveillance for intelligence purposes, and the Combine was able to get a good handle on the Resistance's relative strength, numbers, and influence. They also kept assault teams nearby ready and waiting in case the order for attack ever came.

As the other officers saluted the Administrator and double-timed it out of the office, K-257 was stopped by Breen, who now spoke calmly, "Major, stay here. I believe you were on your way here with matters to discuss."

K-257 nodded, "I merely came to report that my team's mission was successful, and that they are en-route back here, but now I have to inform them to attack their-"

Breen cut him off, "Their designated target, yes I know. I believe there was another issue we had to discuss about your team?"

"Yes." K-257 shuffled uncomfortably. "I've been listening to my team's radio transcripts, and I believe that they've started calling each other by _name_s."

Maybe back during the time before the Combine took over, it was socially acceptable for individual soldiers to have names, but in the Combine, for maximum combat efficiency, it was determined that individuality was a liability. Therefore, all soldiers within the Combine were either identified by numbers or unit designations.

"Well, that's not good at all," Breen said, with a slightly cheerful tone, which unnerved K-257, "after all, names breed _individuality _and _that_ cuts down on military efficiency. I'm wondering if it's time for your team to be… replaced."

K-257's eyes widened. Though the members Kill Team 17 were merely hissubordinates, he felt he had grown a sort of attachment to them, a blasphemous act in itself. "Administrator, I believe the problem is only trivial. I will discipline them appropriately once they return from their mission."

"See that you do." Breen sat back in his chair and brought up a screen showing troop movements. "Oh, and on your way out, see to it that you also properly discipline whoever was in charge of that little fiasco at Civil Protection."

K-257 tilted his head in curiosity, "Sir?"

Breen sighed. "I deplore the waste of good men, I really do, but we can't afford to have screw-ups like this happen again. Find whoever was in charge, chastise him appropriately, and then kill that idiot."

**Location: In the air, en-route to City 17 Citadel**

One, or Kate, as she liked to call herself, stared out the window as the dropship she was riding in soared over City 17. She looked back at her other five squadmates, each of whom had their own secret names: Jackie, Kazi, Cassie, Karen, and Sarah. Names among soldiers were often heavily discouraged though, so they only referred to themselves by name in private, and not on the standard communication channels.

Suddenly, the dropship began to tilt to one side, meaning it was changing course. Kate raised her head curiously and asked, "Pilot, what's the problem?"

The pilot tilted his head to listen in on the radio traffic, and soon replied, "New target. We're headed there right now. I'm patching you in to your mission controller."


	4. Know Thy Enemy

Just to prevent any confusion, these are the people's names and designations.

One- Kate  
Two- Kazi  
Three- Sarah  
Four- Jackie  
Five- Cassie  
Six- Karen

Chapter 4: Know Thy Enemy

"Your target is going to be a Resistance-held industrial complex, located in the northern section of the City."

Kate and the rest of her team were listening closely on their radios as K-257 briefed them on their next target. At the same time, data transmitted over the radio link was being fed into their HUDs, displaying a 3-dimensional image of a section of City 17.

"So far, Civil Protection have managed to keep them contained within this sector, but have not attacked the area as of yet. This complex is one of their most heavily fortified areas, and its literally been turned from a set of ruins into a fortress."

The image then zoomed in, and highlighted certain sections of the 3-d map. They revealed carefully concealed bunkers, trench systems, and heavy-weapons emplacements littered throughout strategic areas of the complex.

"In addition to clearing the complex of any Resistance forces you encounter, your primary objective is this man." K-257 paused as the image shifted from the map to a image of a man. He was fairly old, about forty, had short gray hair, and his face was sprinkled with wrinkles, warts, and other features that would betray a man's age.

"His name is Leonard Simmons. He is one of the major Resistance leaders. It is the utmost importance that you either extract or kill him."

Kate and the others looked at each other. Though the masks hid it, it was obvious that all of them were confused.

"Sir," Kate interjected, "rescue and assassination are a bit on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Which one are we doing?"

It was tough to hear with the voice distortion on the radio, but Kate could hear the Major softly chuckling.

"The thing is, this situation is far more complicated than you might think. Mr. Simmons true designation is Captain M-016."

"A Combine soldier?" Sarah asked in curiosity.

"Correct. Two years ago, Captain M-016 attempted to infiltrate the Resistance as an undercover agent. Unfortunately, he dug in with the Resistance a little _too_ much, and it became harder and harder to come contact with him. We are now unsure whether he is still on our side or theirs. That is why you are going in to find out."

"So, can you clarify on this alive or dead thing a little more, sir?" Cassie asked.

"Preferably, we want him alive. We have to determine if he has any valuable information on the Resistance, or find out how many Combine secrets he has leaked. Either way, you try to take him back in one piece, but that doesn't mean you can't kill him if starts to become trouble."

Everybody nodded. They had no problem with killing, especially if a potential traitor to the Combine was involved.

"That is all. Are there any questions?"

"Will we have any sort of support?" Kazi asked.

"Civil Protection has several units in place already, so they'll provide you with direct ground support. Reinforcements and military units are en route, but won't be there for a while. Besides, if you need them, then you've already failed your mission. In terms of air support, our attack helicopters have been called away on another mission, so all air support is restricted to what your dropship can provide."

"What sort of resistance can we expect?" asked Kate.

"There are roughly a hundred fifty to two hundred Resistance members in the complex, most of them armed. They have an assortment of MP7s, shotguns, pulse rifles, and RPGs, as well as artillery like heavy pulse guns."

"So, in other words, it's going to be a cakewalk." Quipped Jackie.

K-257 laughed, "Pretty much. Good luck to you all. You'll be landing in about ten minutes."

**The Citadel**

K-257 sighed as he shut off his radio. So far, things have not been going well. Multiple units were being drawn off to pursue Freeman, with little success. Units were constantly making and losing contact with him, and there was mass confusion about his current whereabouts.

In addition to the lack of success, some of the offensives in other areas were stalling, as needed reinforcements were being drawn off to find Freeman. The same was true for his team. His reassurance that reinforcements were coming to assist them was a complete lie. They had been transferred before they even left the Citadel. Besides the CP units already in the area, his team was very much alone.

The Major slumped in his chair and sighed. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day, for both him and his team.


	5. Inbound Traffic

Chapter 5: Inbound Traffic

**Resistance Base**

"Commander Simmons."

Commander Leonard Simmons turned from his command chair to see a young Resistance standing before him. Right now, they were several levels under ground level, using an old subway station as a makeshift command center. The boy who addressed him cringed under Simmons' hard stare.

"What is it, soldier?" He said gruffly.

The boy noticeably cringed. Unlike many of the more easygoing leaders within the Resistance, like Eli Vance and Barney Calhoun, Simmons tended to be stricter and more militaristic, which was why the base he was in charge of was so heavily fortified. Everybody assumed that Simmons had spent time in the armed forces before the Combine, but Simmons never mentioned any of it. Everybody had their secrets, after all.

Oddly enough however, Simmons seemed to know exactly where and how the Combine soldiers outside would attack, as if he had seen it all before, which was how they were able to hold onto this base for so long.

"Some of our scouts spotted a Combine drophship coming in from the south."

The soldier could swear that he saw Simmons' face pale slightly, though Simmons gave no sign of any nervousness. "Just one?" He asked.

"Yes sir." The Resistance soldier replied, "It's coming in low and fast, and should be here in several minutes."

Simmons nodded, and thought for a second. "Call in the RPG teams. Tell them to get on the roofs and shoot that dropship down."

"Sir?" The soldier gulped, "We don't have much ammo for the RPGs, and we were saving them for the Combine armored un-"

"I know that, soldier, but right now, that dropship is our biggest concern." Simmons gave his subordinate a hard stare. "Shoot that craft down at any cost."

**Dropship**

"We're coming in on the landing zone." The pilot said, "better-"

Suddenly, the pilot was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek. Both he and the copilot began frantically flipping switches and pulling levers.

"What is that?" asked Kate.

"Missile warning system." The pilot cursed, and then turned to the copilot. "Activate the PDS."

"Point Defense System activated." The copilot said as he flipped a large red switch.

Outside, Kate could see roughly five missiles closing in on their dropship, each coming from a different direction. She saw pulse rounds fly as the dropship's heavy pulse cannon automatically tracked each missile. Each of the five missiles exploded in a ball of golden fire as they were torn apart by pulse rounds, a testament to the effectiveness of the dropship's PDS. With all of the missiles destroyed, the pilot sighed in relief.

"Well, that was-"

Before he could even finish the sentence, however, the missile warning system started blaring again.

"Son of a bitch!" The pilot cried, "Where are they coming from?"

Kate suddenly had a very ill feeling. It was just frustrating, sitting in the back of a drophsip with absolutely no control over her own fate. Her and her team's life was in the hands of these two guys flying what was basically a giant biomechanical tin can with engines attached to it.

The pilot yelled to his copilot, "Where are they coming from?"

"Same vectors!" The copilot took another glance at the screen and gasped, "Eight missiles incoming?"

The pilot's jaw dropped. "_Eight?_"

Again, the dropship's PDS began firing on the incoming missiles. The first four exploded harmlessly in the air, with shrapnel and debris drifting down to earth. The remaining four missiles began to maneuver in an attempt to evade the pulse fire. Those had to be laser-guided RPGs. That was no surprise, since it was well known that the Resistance had managed to procure a large amount of the weapons.

Two more missiles exploded, but the remaining two kept coming, aiming for the dropship's vulnerable cockpit.

The pilot quickly grabbed the control stick and began pushing it down, putting the dropship into a steep dive. "Strap in! We're going evasive!"

While strapped on her safety harnesses, Jackie asked, "What?"

The copilot turned his head to face the passengers. "Better hold onto your panties, ladies, because we're going for a little ride!"


End file.
